


The Key to Courtship

by wegglebots



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-06 10:27:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3131165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wegglebots/pseuds/wegglebots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fate is a persistent thing. If one fated meeting isn’t enough, then maybe the next will be. Or maybe the one after that. Or the one after. You get the point.</p><p>After all, love will find a way. </p><p>(Modern AU where Korra meets Asami (or Asami meets Korra) for the first time again and again until they finally see a trend)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. They meet at a park

**1\. They meet at a park**

Korra recently moved in, but with each passing day she finds herself more and more adjusted to the hustle and bustle of city living. Just recently, she discovered the park she’s jogging in with her dog Naga. She treats it as a way to unwind.

She jogs, tirelessly, with Naga keeping pace beside her as Korra holds her leash (Korra learned early on that some people don’t like it when she lets Naga run free). She revels in the afternoon sunlight, jogging along the path and remembering the open expanses of land back at her homeland. Homesickness crawls its way into her heart, but only for a moment, because Korra is excited about her new beginning. After all, she’s moved into the city because of her athletic career. 

But her deep thoughts are interrupted as she passes a woman sitting on a bench, casually reading the paper and occasionally sipping from her coffee cup. Korra is instantly struck with the scene, as if the heavens suddenly parted and the angels gifted her this magnificent view of a beautiful woman reading the paper, and she  _stops_. 

And Korra stares, frozen and captivated. She stares at the woman, a fine specimen about her age. It’s the hair probably, Korra decides, until she decides that maybe it’s the face, or the elegant way she’s reading the damn newspaper, or those  _amazing_ green eyes (that are now eyeing her curiously).

"Can I help you?"

"I-I.. I uh… I…" Korra mumbles, mentally shaking herself to restart her fizzled out brain. 

"Yes?" the woman asks, eyebrow raised, making Korra even more flustered. 

 _Damn she’s hot,_ Korra muses,  _arggh wait. FOCUS. Focus Korra. Say something! Anything!!_

"I.. Lost my dog… Can y-you help me find my dog? She’s a… a l-labrador retriever. A-Answers to th-the name Naga."

"Bark!" says Naga, right next to her master. 

And Korra mentally slaps herself so hard her ancestors feel it.

The woman slowly raises a pointer finger and points at Naga.

"I think that’s your dog," she deadpans, eyebrow raised even higher, wondering if this was some kind of strange joke.  

"O-oh!" fumbles Korra, slowly turning to face her dog (who was there all along), "I f-f-found you! Ha! I found my dooooooog! Ha ha! Ha.. Ha… Haaaa."

Korra slowly turns to face the woman again, who is now visibly confused.

"Th-Thank! Uh.. I- Ah… I mean thank you! He.. heh…" Korra continues, grinning sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck and blushing like a ripe tomato. 

The woman takes a moment to process it all, before laughing, earnestly, and wipes away the tears forming at the corners of her eyes. 

Korra just stares, locked in place, now entranced by how beautiful this mysterious woman looks while laughing. 

"I’m Asami," the woman finally says after regaining her composure, smiling (seductively, at least according to Korra). 

"A-aaah?" Korra gapes, now rendered unable to function.

"I’ll take that as a "nice to meet you"," Asami says, prompting Korra to find the willpower to remember her own damn name. (Hint: it’s Korra.)

"K-Korra. Me. I-I’m Korra!" Korra finally says, triumphantly, pointing to herself. She feels herself blushing even more for acting like a complete idiot in front of wonderful, beautiful Asami. 

"Well, Korra," Asami says, letting Korra’s name roll off the tip of her tongue in a way that makes Korra want to melt, "I’ve gotta go, but it was nice meeting you. Maybe we’ll see each other around again."

Asami stands up, and  _winks_ at Korra before turning and walking away, flipping her hair in the most flirtatious manner possible. 

And Korra stands there, swooning, until Naga runs away to chase a squirrel, tugging so hard on the leash that Korra just falls over and gives a literal meaning to the phrase “earth to Korra”. 

________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] I’m so sorry this had to be done hahahaha I just couldn’t shake off the idea of a modern AU featuring these two! Yes, yes, I’ll work on Engineer’s Guide later, I just got super side tracked and started drafting out this baby. (Yep, this is gonna be another multi-part thing) 
> 
> Everyone knows Asami knows how to bring on the smolder. I totally have a crush on this girl. Korra’s one lucky girl, alright.
> 
> While I work on the bunch of things I have to write (that are already drafted, mind you), how about reading my other fics?


	2. They meet at a grocery store

**2\. They meet at a grocery store**

Asami Sato is the coolest, sexiest, most badass woman Asami Sato knows. At least, she tells herself this when she looks at herself in the mirror every morning. Spirits forbid she actually openly expresses this sentiment though. She may be confident, but she’s also humble. 

As the daughter of one of the most powerful business owners in the city, Asami has had most conveniences of life handed out to her. Had she ever so much as expressed the slightest bit of want for something, she would have it. 

But despite the odds, Asami did not grow up spoiled. She wanted to work for what she has. Which is why she started working on the cars her family produced the second she could properly grip a tool. She studied hard in college, not content simply inheriting the family business, but wanting to make it even better. She even took up martial arts, determined to make herself strong and independent even without her family name. 

And despite the availability of many butlers and maids, Asami resolves to do the grocery shopping herself. Asami may not know how to cook, but she can very well run errands. 

Which is why she is currently rolling her shopping cart along the grocery store’s aisles, stopping to inspect two pyramids built out of cans, deciding if she wants  _whole_ canned mushrooms or  _sliced_  canned mushrooms.

As she weighs the pros and cons of even buying canned mushrooms to begin with, she spots a familiar figure approaching. She looks, to see that yes, it’s the same woman who “lost her dog” in the park the other day. 

 _Korra,_ Asami reminds herself,  _that cute girl in the park is Korra._

Korra approached wanting to grab a can of sliced canned mushrooms, lest her teammate Bolin complains about “unevenly sliced bits of food” again. She only realizes that she’s also approaching that very lovely lady ( _Asamiiii,_ she swoons,) that she “met” at the park when it’s too late to run away (and hide, hide forever). 

Korra freezes, standing next to the pyramid of whole sliced mushrooms, unable to move any further, struck like a deer in headlights. Asami smiles at her, mentally adjusting her charm levels from 8 to 11. 

"Hey there Korra," she says, saying the other woman’s name as seductively as she could, "lost your dog again?"

And she winks and mentally high fives herself for being so damn  _smooth_  and keeping her shit together despite talking to that really cute girl she kinda wants to make out with. 

"H-H-Hi," Korra stutters, blushing, "…Hi."

And she laughs, nervously (which makes Asami’s heart skip a beat because  _woah that is adorable)_ , before sticking out an elbow to lean on the pyramid of canned mushrooms.

"Ah Korra do-"

But it’s too late. Korra leans on the mushroom can pyramid, causing it to collapse with a loud clattering as it consumes Korra whole. The cans fall and settle, with Korra in and around them, lying down as lifeless as she could. Korra lies there, in her blanket of whole canned mushrooms, wishing to be one with the cans and never rise ever again. 

"You okay?" Asami asks, trying to dig Korra out of her mushroom can grave. 

Korra smiles back, sheepishly, feeling like the heavens parted again and gifted her this view of the very beautiful Asami looking down at her and saving her from her canned food-related demise. 

"Spirits, you’re so  _adorable_ ,” Asami continues, before gasping and blushing and covering her mouth with her hand. 

Korra gapes back, blushing, thinking  _Asami just said I’m adorable! Me! Adorable!_

Asami, unable to deal with her tongue slipping (because she never slips, she’s Asami flippin’ Sato, flirt extraordinaire), decides to flee, grabbing her shopping cart and walking away as fast as she could, wishing for the ground to swallow her whole.

Korra props herself up on her elbows, watching Asami’s (very attractive) fleeing figure, grinning and blushing like a love-struck idiot, almost forgetting that she’s still lying in a pile of canned mushrooms. 

“ _Worth it,_ " she mumbles, triumphantly, before slumping back into her mushroom can bed. 

_________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] Having a hard time writing Engineer’s Guide. Also that other thing I said I’d write (still tentatively titled The Way We Do Things). In the meantime have this! Hope it’s good enough! Harharhar. 
> 
> Korra is a dork but Asami is a dork too and that’s what makes them the best. Dorks are the best.


	3. They meet at an airport

**3\. They meet at an airport**

_________

Korra may not seem like it, but she’s a pro at travelling. 

At least, she thinks she is. In reality, Korra is forgetful at best. Whenever she travels, she always manages to forget one thing. Whether it’s that one sweater she really hoped to wear, or certain travel documents, or her toothbrush, she’s probably managed to forget to bring it at least once during her travels. In fact, she’s even managed to forget her own suitcase. 

And this time, Korra has managed to forget to charge her gadgets. Which is why she hounded down the first charging station she could find near her gate in the large airport terminal. When she finally did find a spot (since locating one can be so tricky sometimes), she settled in, sitting right next to the socket like a defensive predator watching over its caught prey, with her backpack next to her and the wall against her back. She immediately plugs in her smartphone and laptop, turning the latter on and pulling out her boarding pass to check that she does, in fact, have another 4 hours to kill before her connecting flight departs. 

She decides to kill the time by looking through all the photos taken at her most recent Judo tournament, participating as the newest member of the Republic City Fire Ferrets Judo Team. (It is a mouthful. Bolin insists on calling it the RCFFJT but it hasn’t quite caught on yet.)

Korra is in the middle of admiring a picture of herself majestically throwing her opponent for the gold when she sees someone approach from the corner of her eye.

"Um, excuse me-"

And Korra looks up and recognition metaphorically kicks her in the face.

 _IT’S THE HOT PARK LADYYYYY_ , Korra mentally swoons,  _ASAMIIIIII!_

"The hot park lady" stands in front of Korra, with a smartphone in one hand and a charger in the other.

Korra gapes at Asami.

Asami gapes at Korra.

Both slowly blush while busy travelers walk to and fro in the background. Asami drops both phone and charger, her arms locked in place, as she stands as still as a statue.

"Would like. To charge. Please. If okay," Asami manages to express, still unaware that she has dropped anything. 

"Ahhh ihh eeaaaaahhh," Korra bumbles, mortified at her sudden inability to form words. Her mother used to tell her that she would forget how to use words if she whined too much, but goodness gracious Korra never expected to gain the inability to speak due to an attractive woman. 

"Okay," Asami responds anyway, as if Korra’s response were anywhere near coherent. She’s blushing a deep shade of red that almost matches her lipstick. 

And an airport announcement snaps the two out of their trance, making them look away from each other. Korra mumbles a quick “yeah sure have a seat” while Asami picks up her things (including the broken shards of her dignity) and takes a seat next to Korra, plugging in her phone’s charger. After a few moments of the two subtly trying to ignore each other, in a vague attempt to play it cool, Korra speaks up.

"Yeah. Uhh.. How about we… Start over."

"…Okay."

The two face each other, both desperately trying not to mess up again.

"Hi I’m Asami." "Hey I’m Korra."

They speak in unison, and once the initial surprise settles, they both laugh. 

In a flash their embarrassment over trying to somehow impress one another fades, and they talk to each other,  _like normal people_. (It helps that they finally realized that they’re mutually interested in one another.) Korra tells Asami about her Judo career, mentioning that she’s traveling south to visit her family. Asami tells Korra about Future Industries (while somehow conveniently leaving out the fact that she’s going to inherit it), stating that she’s on a business trip. 

Korra marvels at Asami’s career, talking at length about her inherent inability to learn how to make a car move without crashing into anything. With a laugh (that makes Korra’s heart skip a few beats), Asami promises to teach Korra as long as Korra teaches her a few Judo techniques. Korra agrees, grinning broadly at Asami (who resists the urge to kiss Korra on the spot). 

Before they know it Asami’s plane is boarding, and in the midst of their farewells and take cares they exchange numbers, handing each other their phones. It is through this that their fingers brush against each other for the briefest of moments.

And it feels like they’re both struck by lightning, their hands reacting to the sudden warmth, suddenly longing for more. Fate would have them making out on the spot, but instead they look shyly into each other’s eyes. 

Soon the moment passes and they part (but not without another round of farewells and take cares), but they’ve exchanged numbers, and they do send texts to one another that makes them smile for days on end. 

Fate did make some progress that day. 

__________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] I hope that one was nice. Airport because I’m going to travel myself. Hope I don’t pull a Korra and manage to forget anything! Also I hope it’s not terrible. I’m super sleepy right now and I refuse to sleep because I want to sleep during the flight. I want to sleep the whole damn flight away.


	4. They meet at a coffee shop

**4\. They meet at a coffee shop**

_______

Korra, Mako, and Bolin have just finished with their training for the day, and the trio decide to visit a nearby cafe. They had heard many good things about the coffee and the food, so they decided to try it out. It’s small, but intimate. The quiet atmosphere within is broken by the trio entering, laughing at some joke Bolin cracked about Tenzin (one of their coaches) probably getting dumped by Lin (another one of their coaches) due to having a tiny weenie.

Korra laughs, but her eyes are glued to the screen of her smartphone, reading Asami’s latest text. Her gaze still affixed as they find a table to seat them. She only looks away to give her order to the waitress, and resumes reading and rereading the text on her smartphone, a lopsided grin plastered on her face.

 _Good luck with training! :) I, on the other hand, have a lot of work I wish would just disappear right now. I went to this place that opened up recently. The change of atmosphere might improve my work ethic. Try not to beat up your sparring partner too much! ;)_  

Korra starts typing in her response, while Bolin leans in closer, trying to catch a peek.

"Ohhh who are you textiiiing? Your  _Satoboooot_ again?” Bolin teases, waggling his eyebrows at Korra, “When are you going to introduce us to this girl that has you completely distracted from the world? Huh?  _Huh?_ ”

"Shut up Bolin," Korra says, pushing Bolin’s face away with one hand and still typing her reply with the other, "The Satobot is way too amazing for your dumb bullshit."

"Hey, I’m hurt. My dumb bullshit  _matters,_ " Bolin replies, leaning back into his chair, hand over his heart in mock pain. 

Korra ignores Bolin and finishes typing her response, hitting send and smiling to herself. Their order arrives and they start eating.

_Lol I get what u mean. I’m just hanging out with friends now after training. We’re visiting this cafe. Hope we aren’t too noisy lmao. I beat both my sparring partners into the ground today. My friends r dumb so they deserved it. I bet you could beat them up in ur sleep. Do ur best! :)_

"Show us that pic you got of her dude," Mako says, taking a bite out of his sandwich, "She better be way hotter than me if she’s going to follow up this act."

Bolin chokes on his drink and he laughs between coughing fits, while Korra shoots daggers at Mako who just shrugs, a playful smirk on his face. 

And Korra isn’t proud to admit that she has, in fact, saved photos of Asami from her instagram profile. But she does bring up her favorite photo of Asami on her smartphone, holding it up to show her friends, smug that she’s managed to “flirt” with such an attractive being.

 Mako whistles low while Bolin smirks, Asami  _is_  way hotter than Mako. 

"Okay Korra," Bolin starts, a confident swagger to his voice, "as the only one here who’s managed to keep a relationship without it crashing and bur-"

"That’s enough now Mr. I’m-so-above-you-all-for-having-a-girlfriend," Mako interjects, punching his brother in the shoulder playfully.

"Yeah. Stick to talking to your ferret about your stupid love life," Korra adds, also punching Bolin in the shoulder playfully, and the three laugh.

"At least I can talk to a girl without self-destructing," Bolin shoots back, making Mako laugh louder.

"Dude, The Satobot is no ordinary girl. She’s Asami Fuckin’ Sato. She’s like, god’s gift to mankind," Korra huffs, crossing her arms over her chest, "I bet she does shit like fix cars herself and bakes and gives to the poor and stuff like that."

"Jeez, you’re like, The Satobot this, The Satobot th-" and Bolin’s voice catches in his throat and his face crunches up in panic.

Mako and Korra look at Bolin, confused, but he slowly raises his hand, pointing at the table next to them. They turn their heads slowly, following where Bolin is pointing, and share a collective gasp. 

Asami Fuckin’ Sato, The Satobot herself, is sitting there, staring at them like a deer caught in the headlights, mouth slightly open. 

At the discovery of her presence, Asami Fuckin’ Sato’s gaze darts down as she shuffles around the papers on her table, in a vain attempt at acting like she didn’t hear and or notice anything. She tells herself a million times  _to act fucking casual Asami_  but she accidentally makes eye contact with Korra and suddenly she’s just locked in place. 

Asami gapes at Korra.

Korra gapes at Asami.

And they both mull over how this needs to stop happening.

In the background Mako and Bolin share a look, and saunter off to sit on a table on the other side of the cafe, bringing their food and drink with them. They decided that they want to observe this wonderful train wreck from a safe distance.

Korra and Asami continue their awkward staring contest, both blushing furious shades of red.

 _OH GOD,_ Korra thinks to herself,  _SHE HEARD ME TALKING ABOUT HER AND CALLING HER THE SATOBOT AND OH GOD SHE KNOWS I HAVE A PICTURE OF HER ON MY PHONE OH SPIRITS PLEASE TAKE ME NOW._

 _SWEET BABY SPIRITS ,_  Asami thinks to herself,  _I DIDN’T MEAN TO EAVESDROP BUT YOU GUYS WERE SO NOISY AND I HONESTLY DIDN’T MEAN TO HEAR ALL OF THAT PLEASE DON’T JUDGE ME AND WHY WOULD YOU CALL ME SATOBOT THAT’S SO CUTE BUT SO WEIRD OH GOD NO I JUST WANT TO MELT NOW._

"H-Hi… T-There… S- I mean- Asami.." Korra manages, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Heeeyyy," Asami replies, wrecking her brain for solutions to this predicament.

They stare at each other some more, both horribly embarrassed and cursing fate for putting them in these terrible situations. Why couldn’t they meet like those cheesy romance films? Would that be too much?

“ _JUST ASK HER OUT ON A DATE ALREADY,_ " Bolin shouts from the other side of the cafe, hands cupped over his mouth.

“ _YEAH,_ " Mako adds, and the brothers laugh.

Everyone else in the cafe stops what they’re doing and turn to face Korra and Asami. They feel the weight of the expectant gazes of the public, and they both wish to be swallowed up by the earth.

It is deathly quiet, and everyone continues to watch the pair, absolutely interested in the affairs of some strangers trying (and failing) to ask each other out in a cafe.

"D-D-Date…?" Korra finally musters, looking firmly at the ground, feeling like all the blood in her body has rushed to her burning face.

"Y-Yeah…" Asami answers, also looking firmly at the ground, about ten seconds away from fainting.

And everyone in the cafe claps.

(Bolin shouts out “ _GAAAAYYYYYY_ ”, to which Korra responds to by throwing her coffee at him.)

____________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] Sorry it takes me a while to pump out updates! I’ll try to be quicker about this.


	5. They meet at the mini-golf course

**5\. They meet at the mini-golf course**

**__________**

Korra and Asami agree to go on a date, but the time and choice of activity remains unknown. Asami voices out this concern to Korra via text message, emboldened by the fact that she isn’t asking Korra in person.

_Just realized we didn’t actually set a time and place for our date! So where are you taking me? ;)_

To which Korra replies,

_LOL 4got about that! Y dnt u take the lead? Uv been living here longer, so u probably kno a lot of fun places. :D_

This makes Asami hesitate. While she is usually the one who gets to choose the date activity, Korra is too much of a wild-card and Asami fears that she’ll somehow embarrass herself so much that Korra would lose interest. (Which is absolutely, completely, untrue. Korra likes the way Asami gets so flustered.)

_Okay, how about this? You take me out on a date, then I’ll take you out on another. That way we both choose. :)_

Also they get to go on  _two_ dates instead of one. Asami pats herself on the back for that one.

_SURE! :D ROFL!! There is this 1 thing I wanted 2 try. Meet @ the station Sat around 4?_

___________

It’s safe to say that Asami did not expect mini-golf at all. 

But Asami shoulders on, determined, as she watches Korra hand the guy at the entrance booth some money and takes the golf clubs and balls. This time, she decides, she’ll sweep Korra off her feet with her flawless charm.

Korra turns around and walks up to Asami, beaming. Asami fights back the urge to blush and fluster about, and instead they walk to the first hole. Korra swings her golf club over her shoulder while Asami leans on hers. Asami makes a point of striking a pose, hoping that Korra notices.

If Korra’s trailing eyes are of any indication, said pose is working.

Upon realizing that she’s publicly checking out Asami (again), Korra looks away, blushing. She swallows,  _hard_. Asami mentally congratulates herself on that small success. Korra clears her throat and regains her composure. Asami notices the intensity with which Korra eyes the mini-golf course, and she’s surprised at how seriously she’s taking the whole thing. Perhaps Korra is some kind of mini-golf legend?

"Okay. Teach me how to do the mini-golf," Korra finally says.

Asami mentally strikes out “mini-golf legend” from the list of things she knows about Korra.

"Wait.  _What?_  This was  _your_  date suggestion.”

"Yeah. And?"

"This was your date suggestion and you don’t know the rules?"

"Yeah. This is literally my first time playing. So how do you score the goals?"

"First of all, no goals here. That’s a different sport. Second of all, why would you bring a date to something you’ve never done before?"

"Oh. No goals. Huh," Korra muses, crossing her arms over her chest and looking genuinely lost. 

Asami sighs, a small smile on her lips. She decides to teach Korra by demonstration, and sets her golf ball down on the marker. 

"The goal," she begins, hunching over and getting into form, "is to hit the golf ball with the club and get it to go into the hole. Then you move on."

She eyes the trajectory the ball should take. It’s the first hole, so it’s just a straight path. She breathes deep, slowly swinging her club, practicing. With a sharp inhale she holds her breath and hits the ball. It rolls along the path and falls straight into the hole. A hole-in-one. Asami smiles. (She then proceeds to act like that it didn’t happen by chance and that she’s just an expert at everything.)

"Woah!" Korra shouts, clapping enthusiastically, "So lemme guess, the goal is to get the ball into that little hole thing and finish all 18 obstacles first? Sweet!"

And before Asami could say anything, Korra has placed her golf ball down and hit it several times before she managed to get it to go into the hole. She fishes out her golf ball, and holds it up to Asami, grinning broadly, and heads for the next “obstacle”, now laughing boisterously.

"Korra  _wait_! No Korra,  _no_   _do_ -“ _  
_

But Asami’s protests go unheard, as Korra marches off to the next hole, completely oblivious to the rules of mini-golf.

Asami picks up her golf ball and heads off in the direction of maniacal laughter, apologizing to any confused patrons she comes across. She catches up to Korra, who’s furiously whacking her golf ball, somewhat forcing it through the windmill.

"Ha! You’ll never beat  _me_ , Asami!” Korra says, looking at Asami with the intensity of a wildfire, while still smacking the ball that  _just refuses_ to go into the little hole in the miniature windmill. 

Asami smirks, her competitive spirit stirred into action. She grips the golf ball in her right hand and  _throws_ it into the hole. It goes in. She faces Korra, smug, basking in the glory of her “victory”. Korra gasps.

"YOU COULD DO THAT?" She asks, incredulous.

Korra picks up her golf ball, and deciding that she hasn’t broken enough rules, smirks right back at Asami before  _hurling_ it at the general direction of the 18th hole. Asami gasps, somehow beaten at her own game.

They watch Korra’s ball as, instead of going into the 18th hole as planned, it hits a man squarely in the forehead.

The couple gasps as the man falls over, hands over his aching head.

They approach the man, with rushed “I’m so sorry”s and “are you okay”s. It’s when they get near that recognition strikes Asami and she covers her mouth with her hand, gasping (again). 

“ _Iroh?_ " she says, kneeling next to the man.

"I row?" Korra asks, eyebrow raised.

"No,  _Iroh_ ,” Asami asserts, and they both help the man up. 

Iroh dusts himself off, and hands Korra her golf ball. She apologizes again, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. Iroh seems to be okay, which is a relief for Korra. She also notices how darn handsome the guy is.

"Asami!" he says upon seeing Asami, looking at her with familiarity, "wow! What a way to bump into you! What brings you here?"

Korra doesn’t fail to notice the way Iroh looked at her date.

"Ah," Asami stutters, clearly thrown off, "t-this is Korra. W-we uhh.."

"Are at a mini-golf course hitting people with golf balls?" Iroh finishes for Asami, and he laughs while Korra and Asami awkwardly laugh as well.

"What are you doing here?" Asami asks politely, and Korra wonders what kind of history the two have.

"Oh you know, bringing the family around," he says, gesturing to a woman with a young boy at a different hole, both lost in their (proper) game of mini-golf. 

Asami pauses, and for the briefest of moments looks sad, and now Korra is  _really_  wondering what went on between the two. 

"How’s Future Industries?" Iroh continues, "your dad handing you the reigns any time soon?"

And Asami snaps a look at Korra before looking down, and Korra gets the hint that that was something she wasn’t meant to hear. Korra has her questions, but she quickly decides to let Asami tell her when she wants to tell her. For now, Korra can’t help but notice how Asami’s eyes are downcast, and how her formerly playful smile has turned into the slightest of frowns. 

Korra sees this, and for a moment seems lost in thought. She then tosses the ball into the 18th hole. It goes in with a clatter. 

“ _TOUCHDOWN!_ _Woohoo!!_ " Korra exclaims, a triumphant grin on her face and she does a small victory dance, which does more than earn a confused look from both Asami and Iroh.

Korra then grabs Asami’s hand (who blushes and is understandably shocked), and something about Korra’s lopsided grin makes her heart skip a beat.

"I win! That means we’re having noodles tonight!" Korra exclaims, tugging Asami along, giving Iroh a quick wave goodbye. 

The couple excitedly leave the mini-golf course, while the attendant shouts after them, scolding them for not only misunderstanding how mini-golf is played, but not even having the common courtesy to return their damn rented gear. 

Korra looks back at Asami, still pulling her along, and something about Korra’s smile just reminds Asami of how pleasantly warm the sun is on a cold winter day. Asami feels her heart swell and press against her chest, almost painfully so, yet nothing could wipe away the smile on Asami’s face.

She set out to sweep Korra off of her feet, but somehow it feels like she’s getting swept off of hers.

(It’s only later that day when she wonders if she’s actually ready for that. She lies down in bed for at least an hour, contemplating her life. She tries to quell her energy, but the smile plastered on her face just won’t leave. Her body feels like it’s electrified, and she realizes that she hasn’t been this happy in a long time.)

________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] Dude, there’s like, a plot and everything going on hahaha I’m really shocked myself.
> 
> Credit for this one goes to my girlfriend, who gave me the initial idea about what kind of silly crap could possibly take place at a mini-golf course (although I completely edited her original idea), and to that one Tumblr ask, who gave me the idea for a mini-golf date. It’s just so far out I loved it! Thanks for that angelicatherubiks! :)
> 
> So I’ll update Engineer’s Guide next. Hopefully I’ll get it out soon, but with school back on life got a bit hectic. I’ll make it up to you all by making it an extra long chap though! 
> 
> On a side-note, mini-golf is something meant to be really cute and exciting, but it somehow bores the living heck outta me. Am I alone on that? Lolz.


	6. They meet in the broom closet

**6\. They meet in the broom closet**

_____________

Korra finds herself watching the news one late Saturday evening. She slumps into her lumpy living room couch, cheap beer in one hand and remote in the other. Her phone buzzes from its place on the empty seat beside her, but Korra ignores it. The “Equalist movement” has finally been put to a stop, as the headline claims. Korra takes a swig of her beer, her face scrunching up, scowling at how terrible it tastes. 

"Amon, the late mastermind of this terrorist movement," the reporter says, "who was found dead in the aftermath of a naval explosion, was followed by his second-in-command in leading the Equalists. In an astonishing turn of events, authorities have discovered the identity of this new leader to be Hiroshi Sato, who was the CEO of Future Industries. We now switch to our live coverage of Mr. Sato’s hearing and sentencing."

Korra increases the volume on the television and takes another swig of her beer. She feels familiarity tugging at the very corners of her memory, and she leans forward, trying to remember why Hiroshi Sato and Future Industries sounds so damn familiar. She’s wiping her mouth with the back of her hand as a heavy-set middle-aged man appears on screen, his hair and beard streaked with gray. 

She’s mid-swig of her beer as this Hiroshi Sato is indicted and imprisoned for life for fraud, treason, and some counts for some kind of degree of murder that Korra doesn’t quite catch because Asami Sato is suddenly on the screen and Korra is coughing and choking and sputtering on her cheap (terrible tasting) beer.

Asami Sato.  _Asami fuckin’ Sato. Asami fuckin’-Hiroshi-Sato’s-daughter Sato._

Realization hits Korra like a freight train. She should have connected two and two together sooner. Most have, anyway. It’s almost amazing that Korra failed to realize that the girl she’s crushing on (recall that it’s Asami fuckin’ Sato) works for Future Industries, a company well-known to be owned by the (fuckin’) Sato family.  _No wonder her Instagram account has, like, a million followers,_ is the first thought to cross Korra’s mind.

Korra’s cheap beer and television remote slip from her hands and fall unceremoniously onto the living room floor, the former spilling all over the carpet, and Korra numbly stumbles toward the television. She puts her face uncomfortably close to the screen, her hands pressed on its sides. Her eyes affix on the image of Asami seated in the back of the courtroom: arms crossed, back slouched, her - looking so small and so sad. She doesn’t pay attention to Hiroshi, who is being dragged out of the courthouse screaming and kicking and shouting, but she stares at Asami, who looks like she wants to cry all the tears in the world but can’t. She gapes as footage eventually changes to a confusing mess of press and interviewers each flinging questions at Asami, who puts on a pair of shades and walks without stopping toward a car with a bodyguard waiting for her. 

The news segues into a commercial break, and it’s only then that Korra remembers that she has Asami’s number and that she should maybe text her and ask her how she’s doing. Korra turns toward the couch, and she notices that her rug is completely soaked in the vile cheap-ness of her beer. She curses under her breath, gets some dirty laundry from her bedroom, and uses it to soak up some of the liquid, thinking that it’s a completely acceptable and adult solution to the problem. She later realizes that it actually isn’t, and gives up, deciding to simply buy a new damn rug because she never even liked that rug to begin with. 

She’s in the middle of hastily rolling it up and throwing it out the window when she remembers that she wanted to check on Asami. Korra shoves the rest of the rug out of the window and hopes that it lands on the dumpster directly below her window (her apartment is on the third floor, her window facing another building, a narrow alleyway separating them). It doesn’t. It lands with a painful thud that sets off car alarms and gets all the neighborhood dogs barking. Korra winces, but quickly shuts her window, and retrieves her phone from the couch. 

 _Hey I saw u on the news_ , she types, before erasing it, reminding herself to show some tact.  _Hey girl how u doin 2nite,_ she types, before erasing it again, because goddamn Korra, what the hell? She settles for a  _how r u_ , safe enough for Korra to sound concerned yet not prying. She waits for a reply, yet none ever comes. 

In fact, the only times that Korra sees or hears Asami is when she’s on the news, and even that dies down after a while.

___________ 

Three months. It’s been at least three months since Korra has last spoken to her elusive Satobot.

At first, Korra was hopeful. She would often check her phone, heart beaming with every text and every call, only to frown upon seeing that it’s not The Satobot, just some mortal undeserving of Korra’s full attention. Korra does see her every now and then in the tabloids (which, much to Korra’s shame, she buys at the mere mention of the elusive Sato). Asami, the daughter of a terrorist, trying to salvage a company from the cinders of her father’s wrath. Asami, the lonely warrior, rarely seen with anyone else in public. Asami, the girl just beyond Korra’s reach. 

And then we have Korra, the girl who feels utterly rejected by the beautiful and wonderful Asami. Korra, the hulking, sulking mess of a human being. Korra, the friend Mako and Bolin comfort, with nights out and trips to strip-clubs and jokes and laughter. But it’s never enough for Korra. Asami was special. Korra could feel it in her bones. There was something there, something yet unexplored, something Korra wants so desperately to discover. 

"It’s alright, buddy," Mako would say, in that same terse manner he says anything vaguely emotional. 

"Yeah Korra, someone  _even hotter_ is bound to meet you,” Bolin would then chime in, ”And when you meet this  _newer, even hotter person,_ you guys will also probably keep bumping into each other again and again and again as if _fate itself_  were trying to tell you that she - OW, MAKO, WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?”

And at that point Korra would be all sulky and sad, like she were pulled back into the endless drama of her adolescent years. She’d resort to checking all of Asami’s social media sites, hoping for some update, some  _sign_ , that said “yes Korra, let’s date some more. I’m not disappearing on you because I totally like you back”. 

In her sheer desperation she even goes so far as looking up Iroh on Facebook. There she confirms that Iroh has, in fact, won the genetic lottery. Korra can’t help but feel jealous of the connection between him and her precious Satobot, whatever that connection may be. As far as Korra knows, Iroh is happily married with (equally genetically gifted) children, and that the only pictures Iroh and Asami have together are at formal events. There Korra also learns that not only is Iroh gifted in the looks department, but he also does archery, martial arts, poetry, flower arrangement, and even fucking pottery really damn well. He also travels a lot. He’s also super photogenic. (There’s a photo of him tripping on his own two feet, but damn he looks great falling down). 

It takes a while (and it’s strange because they only really went on one date, and Korra feels the loss pulling her down anyway), but at some point Korra decides that maybe fate was only messing with her. So she decides to forget about Asami Sato. Or at least she tries to.

____________

A little while later, Korra finds herself at some conference center at a hotel that’s so fancy, she’d probably only afford to spend a night there if she sold her soul and a kidney. She’s there for an “important event”, as Tenzin put it. Something about some important Judo Association meeting, Korra doesn’t actually know. (She wasn’t listening). 

Korra does know that the formal blue dress she’s wearing is uncomfortable and it makes her itch in various places, and she wants nothing more than to rip the damn thing to shreds. Preferably in private. Which thus begins Korra’s search for the comfort room. 

However, Korra possesses a remarkably bad sense of direction. She swears she’s passed by the engineering and technology expo at least three times. She also swears she’s passed by the same group of media people roving about the hotel lobby’s halls at least five times. Korra considers asking for directions, but they’re the only people she ever comes across and they seem focused on searching for something else. That is, until, she sees someone unmistakable at the end of the hall. 

Kuvira.

Or “Goddamn Stupid-face Kuvira”, as Korra calls her. The Judoka from the Earth Kingdom team that always manages to slam Korra so hard onto the mats that Korra feels herself transcending into the next life. The Judoka that always, always, without fail, rubs her spectacular victory in Korra’s face. And Korra is most definitely  _not_ up to Kuvira’s endless gloating, so she darts into the door right next to her, before Kuvira gets a chance to lock her sights on poor, poor Korra. 

Korra finds herself hiding in what she assumes to be a broom closet. It’s dark, and it smells stuffy, but it will serve as Korra’s temporary shelter. She shifts a little in her new space, tries to see the limits of her territory. She finds that it’s a small room, cluttered with objects she tries to feel while her eyes haven’t adjusted to the darkness. 

 _This is a box_ , she thinks to herself,  _and this is a shelf with some cans on it… And this is… cloth? What? This… Soft… A BODY???_

” _EEEEP!!!_ " squeaks a voice that is most definitely not Korra’s. 

And Korra freezes.  _Oh god_ ,  _who’s there?_  She fishes out her smart phone from her clutch, turns it on.

Before Korra stands the woman she’s tried to let go of. The woman with eyes so hauntingly beautiful that they chase Korra all the way into her dreams. The woman that Korra tried to forget. And of all the people in the world to be trapped in a broom closet with, it’s her.

” _ASAMI FUCKIN’ SATO!?_ ”

And Asami tries to shush Korra, but it’s too late. Every single thought process in Korra’s mind crashes and burns. The only light in the cramped room goes out as Korra’s phone goes to sleep. 

” _Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,_ " Korra squeaks, her voice tiny and trembling.

Outside Asami hears the clamor of reporters figuring out where the CEO is hiding. She hears the footsteps drawing nearer. She shakes Korra in an attempt to reboot the shorter girl’s brain.

” _Korra! KORRA!! Listen to me, the reporters are looking for me, please, don’t let them find out I’m here,_ " Asami half-shouts in a failed attempt at whispering.

And Korra seems to snap out of it. It dawns on her that this is happening. That this isn’t one of her (many) girlish fantasies. That the wonderful, beautiful Asami is really there. That the faint perfume she’s picking up is hers. That -  _oh right, focus Korra -_ the reporters are right outside the door and Korra hasn’t thought of anything other than wanting to kiss Asami.

The broom closet door begins to open, Korra spins around and shoves Asami in the space behind the door, so that it appears that only Korra is in the room. The door is fully opened now, and the reporters stare at Korra, standing alone in a broom closet, confused. 

Without thinking, Korra turns around, wraps her arms around herself, and while running her hands up and down her muscular frame, she makes kissy sounds. 

Yes. Korra pretends to make out with herself. And when the reporters don’t leave (they’re so perplexed that they can’t feel their legs), Korra shoots an angry glance over her shoulder, her arms still wrapped around herself.

"Do you  _mind_!? Sorta busy here!! GO AWAY!!” 

Which then prompts the reporters to close the door as quickly as they could without slamming it, and they run away. Far, far away, where they will all collectively try to forget what they just saw. 

Once safely out of earshot, Korra turns her phone on again. There she sees Asami (fuckin’) Sato, slumped against the broom closet door, clutching her face and stomach in breathless laughter. Tears are forming at the corners of her eyes. She laughs like she’s never laughed before, her slender frame shaking with the gales of laughter overcoming her. 

"Oh  _come on_ ,” Korra huffs, “I’m not very good when put on the spot, okay!?”

But Asami laughs even harder, and Korra pouts. Asami opens one eye, sees Korra sticking her lower lip out, her arms crossed over her chest, giving Asami her best “it’s not  _funny_ " look. And Asami realizes she’s never seen anything quite so endearing and so cute, and something else flutters in the core of Asami’s heart. She tries to stop laughing, as best she can.

In this moment Asami decides that she’s tired of being so lonely. And she smiles at Korra, the truest she’s smiled in months. 

___________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] Woo! That was longer than my usual. Hope you guys like it. I think I’ll do another update on this one before I post the finale on the Engineer’s Guide. Thanks for all your support. It gives me so much hope. :)


	7. They meet at the bar

**7\. They meet at the bar**

_____________

Asami arrives at the bar a little earlier than she and Korra had agreed to. She sits by the bar, and orders a quick shot of vodka. Something to ease the nerves. Loosen up. She downs it, and slams the shot glass on the counter, inhaling sharply and feeling that sweet, sweet alcoholic burn. 

She’s a disaster waiting to happen, and she knows it. All the problems in her life are piling onto her shoulders and she feels like her legs are about to snap. She can already feel at least a dozen eyes on her, looking her up and down, assessing how hard it would be to get her drunk enough to sleep with them. In her current state, it wouldn’t be hard at all. If she weren’t waiting for Korra, she’d probably be shit-faced already, fucking some stranger in the back seat of her car.

 _Have some dignity_ , she tells herself,  _that’s never how you do things._

She checks her watch. Korra’s running a bit late. Asami orders another shot and quickly drinks it. She feels the emptiness in the pit of her stomach grow. She wills it away, tries to rationalize how okay everything is gonna be, but it aches and it throbs and it begs for her suffering. Yes, Asami thinks for a moment, I should spiral into despair and let my suffering eat me whole. I should drink until I’m unconscious. I should fuck a dozen strangers tonight. Maybe even all at the same time. Anything to make the pain stop. 

But that’s never how Asami does things, and she quickly dispels those destructive urges. She adjusts her position on the bar stool and asks for a glass of water. 

Just then, Korra enters the bar. Only, she isn’t alone, Asami quickly notes. Her companions include: a tall muscular guy with broad shoulders and eyebrows that remind her of caterpillars, a girl who, judging by the arm slung around her shoulders - must be caterpillar eyebrow guy’s girlfriend, and an even taller guy with a slightly thinner build with - oh wow seriously, shark-ish eyebrows. 

Korra spots her by the bar, and waves. Asami waves back, and Korra gestures for her to relocate to a booth where they all fit. As they settle down, with Korra, Asami, and caterpillar guy’s girlfriend on one side and caterpillar guy and shark guy on the other, they all smile at her, as if they all already know her. 

“Soooo,” caterpillar guy says, leaning into the booth’s table and raising a thick caterpillar-y eyebrow, “ _you’re_  Korra’s elusive Satobot.” 

Asami doesn’t know how to respond. She blushes. Korra’s? Satobot? She never quite got to talk about that one with Korra, who’s currently shooting caterpillar guy a positively evil glare. Caterpillar guy shrugs and laughs. 

“Sorry, my friends are absolute idiots,” Korra says, much to the objection of everyone else at the table, “lemme introduce you.”

“That asshole is Bolin.” Caterpillar guy.

“Hey!”

“That other asshole is Mako.” Shark guy.

“ _Hey!”_

“That awesome lady is Opal.” Caterpillar guy’s boyfriend.

“Aww shucks. Thanks Korra.”

“Bolin and Mako are brothers, and Opal is Bolin’s girlfriend.”

“Hi, I’m Asami,” Asami says, somewhat dumbstruck and shocked. She wasn’t expecting company other than Korra’s tonight. (A darker side of herself just wanted to get shit-faced with Korra and sleep with her to get it all out of her system.)

“We know! Korra won’t stop talking about you!” Bolin says, gesturing wildly.

Mako and Opal nod thoughtfully while Korra shoots death glares at them all.

“Agh, whatever, I’m getting us drinks.” Korra says, scooting out of the booth and heading towards the bar.

As soon as she’s out of visual range, Korra’s friends all lean toward Asami, looking her dead in the eye and semi-glaring. Asami’s eyes nervously flitted about, making eye contact with one and then the other. 

“ _You better not hurt her_ ,” Mako says darkly.

“ _Yeah.”_ Bolin and Opal say in unison.

“Uh. Okay. Y-yeah. I won’t.”

“You don’t understand,” Bolin says, scowling, leaning even closer to Asami, “if you break her heart  _we break you._ ”

Asami feels her back pressing hard against the booth’s padded seating. Korra’s friends lean even closer to her.

“ _Destroy you.”_ Opal asserts, holding up a fist.

“ _Snap you like a twig.”_ Mako says, doing a mock twig-snapping motion without breaking eye contact. 

“O-o-okay. N-noted. I won’t hurt Korra. I swear.”

Asami can feel the cold sweat beading on the skin of her back. Korra’s friends continue glaring at her, with unbroken eye contact. What do they want her to do? Sign a blood oath? Either way Asami could tell that their threats were pretty much legitimate. This makes Asami want to run away, but that might make Korra sad and now there’s no fucking way she’d risk so much as making Korra  _sad_. 

Suddenly they all snap back and start laughing and smiling, as Korra finally approaches and sets all the beers down on the table. They don’t break eye contact, as if saying  _play along now, you, or else_. So Asami nervously laughs along with them.

“Hope it’s okay that I just got beer, Asami.”

“Oh, no, I don’t mind.”

And they all do a quick “Cheers!” and start chugging down on their respective beers, followed by some nice, amicable chit-chat. Asami could tell that this was gonna be a long night. 

Sometime after the third round of beers Mako, Bolin, and Opal get into a heated argument about what superpower they’d each have. Bolin seemed adamant that he should have metalbending abilities, but Mako and Opal argue that it’s not very “Bolin-y”. Korra taps Asami on the shoulder.

“I hope it’s okay that I brought my friends along.”

“It’s fine. They’re…” Asami tries to keep her memory from flashing back to the recent threats, but fails, “ _interesting_.”

“…I’m sorry,” Korra says, and she does seem truly apologetic, “I just… I saw you a lot on the news, and I thought that maybe… That maybe you really need a friend.”

Asami blinks, genuinely shocked. Korra rubs the back of her neck and expounds.

“I mean, you seemed so  _lonely_ and I don’t mean to pry or anything. It’s just, I dunno, I thought I could help so I thought maybe instead of just one friend you can have four. And I know I don’t know anything about you and I’m tooootally rambling right now but I just. Ughh, I just thought that with four more friends you’d be less lonely and - Oh gosh! Asami no don’t cry! Oh my god I’m so sorry!”

But Asami’s already sobbing. Korra’s friends stop arguing and switch from staring at Korra, who’s flustering and apologizing, to Asami, who’s a weeping mess. 

“Thank you,” Asami finally says between sobs, “I would very much like to have four friends.”

A look of relief washes over Korra’s face and her friends smile genuinely at Asami. Korra embraces Asami as tight as she could. Bolin gasps from his seat and rises, wrapping the entire group in an embrace. It’s difficult with the booth table separating them, but Bolin squeezes hard and they all feel the table uncomfortably pushing into them. 

“Awww, friendship. What a beautiful, wonderful thing it is.” Bolin says, grinning and squeezing even tighter. Everyone groans.

“Yeah,” Korra grunts, “Bolin’s a hugger, watch out for that.”

Opal and Mako grunt their agreement. 

Somehow Asami finds it within her to giggle. She feels the pit of despair in her heart slowly fade away. In its stead is happiness and gratefulness. She’ll definitely owe Korra and her friends one for this. 

She corrects herself - they’re her friends too now. They’re all friends. 

______________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] Drink responsibly, you all! It’s fine to drink and have casual sex, but never to fill in the holes in your heart! When sad, seek friends. Friends will always be there to help. :)


End file.
